A very odd Fairy Tale
by Kyri
Summary: Ok, this is on trial basis. And extreamly AU. Ran is a prince and someones sent him a gift.
1. Once upon a Time

Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, lived a prince, who lived in a rather luscious castle with his family. His name was Ran.  
  
Now this prince Ran was quite remonicient of the Ranners we all know and love. Red hair, violet eyes, and a death glare that, well, lets just say it had wilted a few flowers. And I don't just mean of the fauna type.  
  
(Ran: hey! I'm not that bad!  
  
Me: Shut up and let me tell the story….)  
  
Anyway, Prince Ran's only real friend was his sister, the princess Aya- chan. However, he knew that she was growing up and would soon have to leave him. This made poor Ran very sad and moopish. His parents tried everything they knew of to get him to cheer up. Even the normal art and music seemed to have no effect. Now, from a far distant kingdom came a merchant who had heard of Ran's distress (and the substantial reward posted by the king and queen for cheering their beloved son up) So he present the prince with a gift.  
  
The large and elaborate box that was presented dazzled the court. They peered through the 3 holes on each side, but the darkness within thwarted their attempts to discover what was inside. Ran, in contrast, was very bored. He had received many presents and this appeared to be no different. His parents made him open it anyway. The people waited with baited breath as out into the light stepped a brown, furry paw, followed gracefully by the rest of the body of a beautiful brown and cream dog. Well, it tried to be graceful, but as soon as it's pads hit the marble tile floor; it slipped and fell in a vague rug shape with a small whimper. Its fur providing no traction as it slid a little over the floor carried by its previous momentum. All the tension drained out of the room as the crowd laughed and awwed, and the princess immediately glomped the soft animal, squealing happily. Ran wasn't sure of what to make of his new present, but the thing did make his sister happy, and anything that did that had a very slight rise in regard in his point of view.  
  
"Ranny! Ranny! Come pet it! He's sooooo soft!!" Princess Aya-chan squeaked happily, looking over at her stoic older brother. He looked over at the cute and cuddly mutt. At that moment, the dog looked up and matched Ran's ice violet gaze with its own warm and nervous brown one. He hmft and walked off, Prince Ran was in no mood to be charmed.  
  
Time passed, revealing that the dog was extremely happy, cuddly, and most of all friendly, but also disastrously clumsy. He soon learned what rooms to stay out of to keep in everyone's good graces. The princess named him Teddy. After her Teddy bear. The dog as well proved to be very determined and strubbren. Trying at every chance he got to get Ran to show him the least bit of affectionate regard.  
  
Teddy wasn't having much luck, until one day…  
  
Ran was hid—I mean, reading in the palace garden, his favorite place of retreat when he wanted to be alone. Which was a lot. The sun was shinning pleasantly bright, and there was only the slightest amount of a most refreshing breeze. He was just getting to the good part when he was disturbed by a very familiar yelp. Tan sighed with irritation, "Damn mutt, probably crashed into something again…" he muttered as he searched for his lost book place. However, this was not to be, because he was again interrupted by a quiet whimper from beside him. The red head looked over; about to snap irritably when he paused. There, beside him sat Teddy, head down and one paw in the air in front of him. The dog whimpered again, waggling the paw a bit, sending a drop of blood to the pavement. Ran sighed, he may have not been the most happy with the animal, but he honestly did not wish it pain.  
  
"Alright, lets have a look." Ran said resignedly as he took Teddy's paw. That's when the dog looked up. Ran was surprised at how human Teddy's eyes looked especially the expression. The dog seemed to be almost crying. The prince looked back to the paw, unnerved, but rapidly convincing him that he didn't see that.  
  
Ran had very sharp eyes, so he quickly found the cause of poor Teddy's pain. A large thorn from the roses in the next garden was spearing his paw. The tall man took a firm grip on the dog's paw.  
  
"Stay still. This is going to hurt a bit." He said, and then yanked out the thorn. Teddy bit back a yelp as Ran did that, then, watched him carefully as the prince bound his paw. Ran was surpassed by the dog's reaction to his kindness. Instead, as he expected, of jumping him and yapping and slobbering all over his book, the dog simply nudged him with his muzzle and curled up quietly beside him. The prince smiled a little and went back to his reading.  
  
"Maybe this wont be so bad after all…" he thought to himself.  
  
The princess found them like this when she came searching an hour later. She smiled and watched her reclusive brother absently stroke the quiet dog while he read. Aya-chan silently tiptoed away. She had no wish to disturb this precious moment for the world. 


	2. Developements

The two became a commen seen pair, Teddy always 'dogging' Prince Ran's heels. The dog seemed to calm down, and the boy seemed to perk up whenever they were together, as if by an unspoken agreement. Ran often spoke his thoughts to the dog, if only for a sounding bored.  
  
When the prince was in one of his talkitive moods, he often liked to sit in his privet corner of the library. This particular time, he wanted to vent.  
  
"I cant belive that my parents want me to get married to that girl! Shes even younger then my sister…." He complianed, sinking down in his favorite chair, with Teddy listening attentivly. He continued. "Sure, she's nice and all, but…Sakura's so, so…" he pushed a long pale hand through his bright hair to make up for a loss of words. Teddy nudged his hand in a guesture of silent support. Ran sighed, relaxing slightly as he ruffled the dogs fuzzy topknot. "At least you understand… I think. Too bad you cant tell me what I should do. If only you were human so we could really talk…" he didn't notice the dog back down, as if stung by the words. "Well, at least you listen…" Ran was not to know how close his words came to a nerve of truth until later.  
  
That night there was a terrible storm. Crashes of thunder, bursts of lightening, the wind wailing like a giant bagpipe. The works! You know, one of those storms. Ran sat oon his bed, reading by candle light. He didn't mind storms, in fact, he was rather fond of them. Of course, he would never tell anyone that. After a particualry loud crash rang out, he was brought back to reality but a mad scratching at his door. Couriously, he stood, strod over to the door, and openend it. Only to have to jump back in order not to be knocked over. Teddy was but a brown streak that blazed in and dove under Ran's bed. The prince chuckled softly as he shut the door. "I see you don't like loud storms very much, do you." His statement was answerd only by another loud thunder crack and a whimper from under the bed. He sighed and slid his lanky form under the covers. Blowing out the candle he said good night to the frightend dog and settled in to sleep.  
  
Later that night, the storm settled down to just heavy rain and wind. Ran was awoken by a soft bump and a muffled curse. Causiously, he opend his violet eyes to slits and saw a whitish shape move over to sit by the window. Opening up his eyes a bit more, the shape resolved itself to the figure of a boy, perhaps a few years younger then himself. He had brown, shaggy hair and was wearing a cream coloured pesent shirt and dark brown pants. There was something about this boy that told Ran that he was harmless. Besides, Teddy would have barked had soemthing been wrong, but never the less, he drew his trusty katana closer as he kept watch on the stranger.  
  
The dawn's first light approched and the boy had not made a move against the prince, though sometimes he would look over and sigh, his long locks hanging over his eyes. When the first streams of light threatened over the horizan, the boy sighed deeply and stood. He walked over to Ran's bed and sat down by the foot board on the floor. Ran kept watching to see if he moved again. Time passed, and his watching was interupted by the feeling of Teddy nudging his hand, signaling that it was time to get up. He rolled over and sat up, looking over the edge of the bed discreetly. He saw hide nor hair of the boy.  
  
Ran saw the stranger many nights after that, and always he watched him with out letting it be known that he was still awake. But in the mornings, the only living thing he would find in the room was Teddy. Something was not right, not right at all.  
  
Now, though Ran's family ruled fairly and peacefully, like all rulers, they had enimes. People jealous of their power and prestege. The formost rival family in particular was the Takatori's. A ruthless clan that would stop at nothing to gain what they thought as their rightfull place on the throne. It had taken time, but they finaly got enough soldiers to win a frontal attack, and so, that's what they did. Nothing like the direct rout ne?  
  
Well, those Takatori's presented a terrible military coup upon the palace one day after Aya-chan left. (I forgot to mention, she went off to get married, but that's beside the point!) Ran's family's soldiers found themselves overwhelmed by sheer numbers and soon Ran was fighting beside them for his life. It all looked like then end when he was cut down, looking up at a soldier, ready to take his life. Just when he thought it was the end. A dark streak lept over him and attached it self to the soldiers throat. It was Teddy, showing a new side to the fun cuddly friendly dog. He was using his sheer size and his teeth to an advantage as he tore through anyone that thought to go near Ran and hurt him. Very, very protective.  
  
However, even that could not win the battle, and Ran was forced to flee if he wanted to survive. Taking Teddy with him, he ran into the deep, dark surrounding forest. The red head mutterd a muffled curse as he ran, for he had been hurt by a sword slash across the abdomen and it hurt. To make things worse, it started to rain, a cold, dreary, oppressive down pour that sapped heat and stole what ever spirit the two weary beings had left. It was raining so thickly, that the prince couldn't see past the end of his nose. Teddy growled softly and gently clamped his teeth down on Ran's arm, dragging him into a dry cave. He sighed and flopped down greatfully, his eyes closing involentarily. They snapped open again when he felt something cold and wet touch the wound. Ran struggled to see what was going on. Teddy was nosing where the blood was flowing.  
  
"What the hell are you—" Ran started angrily, making to push the dog away, when he stopped. The cut was already half-way closed, healing rapidly where the dog touched. When the line of pain was compleaatly erased, Teddy curled up around the prince, offering the boy the warmth still trapped in his thick furry coat. Laying his head down on the dogs fuzzy stomache, Ran quickly fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.  
  
It was around midnight when Ran became aware of his surroundings again. He yawned and sat up, putting his hand down for support, and was greated to the feeling of cotton instead of fur. He turned his icey violet gaze down to see what it was. There was the boy he'd seen, curled up where the dog had been when he went to sleep. Now, Ran was a smart boy, who could put two and two together, but he hadnt really had any proof before. It was time to act upon his suspisions. Quickly, he straightedn the boy out and pinned him down. Then he took out a small flash from his pocket. The prince didn't drink much, but sometimes there was just no other way to relax. He poured some of the contents down the boy's throat, pulling it away when brown eyes snapped open as their owner coughed and sputterd from the brandy. The marble skinned boy gazed down at his 'prisoner'  
  
"Nice to see you're awake…Teddy." He said. 


	3. KenKen's story

Teddy's eyes widened as he stared up at Prince Ran. He tried to bolt up, but he couldn't shake off the other boy's weight. He sighed in defeat. Ran gazed down at the enigma trapped below him, there were so many questions he wanted to ask, and now was the time to get the answers.  
  
"Who are you?" Ran demanded of his prisoner. The boy shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"My names Ken." The earth-toned kid responded, teeth chattering a bit from both nervousness and cold.  
  
"You have some explaining to do." The taller of the two said simply, never taking his piercing gaze off of Ken.  
  
"Your wondering about the whole dog thing, huh," Ran nodded for him to go on, "Well, you'd better get comfy," Ken said with a grimace, glancing up at the boy above him, "Cause it's a long story." Ran stayed put. Ken rolled his terracotta-tinged eyes. "Oh for petes sake! Can't you take a hint?! You're heavy and I cant breath, so GET OFF!!" he shouted annoyedly. Well, the prince had never really been spoken to like that before. Sure, his sister had yelled at him a few times, but that didn't count because she was his beloved sister, and thus had special privileges, but that never happened very often. Ran froze in shock, his curiosity to know what was going on warred with his feeling of indignity about being yelled and ordered around by anyone, a 'commoner' no less. It took a long minute, but eventually curiosity won out, but he managed to convey displeasure by letting Ken up with an angry huff. The brown haired boy sat up with a beaming smile, not reacting to the huff at all.  
  
"Thank you, it's much easier to talk now." He said, with no trace of condencendence or sarcasm. Ran glared at him, his already icy coloured eyes adding to the effect.  
  
"Just get on with it." He growled.  
  
"Oh! Right!" Ken replied sheepishly as he leaned against the caves stone wall. This, was his tale.  
  
"Before this happened, I was the apprentice of a wizard who lived in the kingdom of Weiss. His name was Persia…." Ran's eyes widened. He recognized that name from his history lessons. This wizard had been the instigator of a rather odd incident in a nearby kingdom a few hundred years back, but if Ken was talking about the same wizard….  
  
The storyteller continued on obliviously.  
  
"He was a powerful wizard, respected for miles around. His spells were as subtle as a butterfly's touch or as noticed as a winter's gale. I however…wasn't very good. I constantly screwed up and was always in the way. But, Persia was an all around decent guy and didn't really mind. He didn't care that the only spells I could accomplish with out blowing up the tower were a few of the basic healing spells. I liked him a lot!" a sort of sad, wistful smile appeared on the slightly tanned boy's face as he kept on talking. "Anyway, one day he was mixing up a spell to teach a lesson to an arrogant emperor who had pissed him off a few days earlier. However, being as umm….not graceful as I am, I kinda got in the way….eheh. Persia, skilled as he was, he was not able to remove the curse, but he was able to modify some of it instead. I don't turn into a horrible, hideous beast, hiding away in a cold castle, and I am able to resume my normal form at the darkest hours of the night, and I don't have the time limit for the breaking of the spell, but the way to make me completely normal again is the same." Ken concluded softly, the sadness creeping into his voice as he looked down.  
  
Ran gazed at him curiously. "And that is?" he asked. Ken blushed.  
  
"Umm…..True loves kiss…" he mumbled quietly. "I have been looking and traveling for a long time, as you can see, I still haven't had any luck." The prince gave his companion an appraising gaze.  
  
"You're a lot older then you look, aren't you." He said blandly, as if this statement could be said in the same way every day. Ken nodded, "Time kinda well, froze for me." He said with a sigh. "I've been looking for so long. At first Persia helped me look, and when he eventually had to pass on, he set me up with a friend, but things kinda went from there and people eventually forgot who I was or what I was trying to do. To them I was simply a very ridculess house pet. I've been glomped, petted, smucked, kicked, tormented by girls and babies, traded around…Gah! Its sooooooooo damn frustrating!" he burst out angrily.  
  
"Though, not that I really minded, I mean, what else could they do, its not like I could just walk up to them when they were in bed and say 'oh hi, I'm your dog, could you please tell your daughter not to tie pink ribbons on my ears?'" the brown boy continued sardonically. The prince paused for a moment, and then, quite unexpectedly burst out into laughter. Ken gazed/glared wondering at him, thinking that the boy he had known as cold and stoic had completely gone over the deep end. Ran finally managed to get hold of him self. "I'm sorry…" he said, wiping the involuntary tears from his eyes, "But the mental image from what you just said." the rest was cut off by the princes renewed snickering. Ken was frozen in righteous anger for a moment, and then, he realized, it was rather funny. He had just not even really thought of it that way before. So, after a moment had passed, he joined in on the laughter, making the cave echo with their joint joyous sounds. 


	4. It isnt nice to shove

Days passed as the two boys traveld. The prince had slowly realized as they got further away from his paalce that he couldn't go home, no did he want to. One, being that any Takatori supporter would kill him on sight, and two, out here, roaming around with the bewhitched Ken, was a lot less stressfull than trying to please and entier kingdom. Besides, he figured everyone thought he was dead anyways.  
  
The companions travled by day, and talked at night, well, I should say Ken did most of the talking, Ran pretty much just listened because it was hard for him to get a word in edgewise sometimes. As time progressed on its silent march, they became closer and closer, but neither had realized exactly how close they had become, until one late evening at the end of a hot August…  
  
Ken flopped down happily after he changed back to his human form.  
  
"Boy, am I glad this day's over, my paws are killin' me!" he groused to Ran. The former prince smirked slightly.  
  
"Maybe you've been a mutt to long, its starting to effect your mind." He said snottily, earning a brown eyed mock glare. Ken laughed, then leaned back against a tree with a sigh.  
  
"You've sure changed a lot." He said to his paler friend. Ran looked up from building a small fire, startlled a bit at the comment.  
  
"How so?" Ken gazed thoughtfully across the horizan.  
  
"Well, when I first met you, you were kinda a living iceberg, frozen in one mind set. Now you're a bit more playfull, open I guess is what im trying to say, whatever the caase, I like you better this way. Your more fun." Ran gave a small smile and bowed sarcasticaly.  
  
"Im so glad to have been of such entertainment." He drawled, just like the most tiresome lord that had used to attend his court. Ken giggled. Ran arched a thin, delecate eyebrow in an elegant guesture of 'what the hell' in a milder form.  
  
"What?" the darker boy demanded.  
  
"You were giggling like a school girl."  
  
Ken flushed, half in an embarassed blush, and the other in shocked indignation.  
  
"I was not!" he cried, shoving Ran slightly.  
  
"Was too." Ran said calmly as he shoved back.  
  
"Wasn't!!"  
  
"Was so." The shoving continued back and forth, but both were carefull not to actualy hurt the other.  
  
"Was not to infinaty, so HA!!"  
  
"Was so to infinaty plus one."  
  
"ARG!! You can be so infuriating!" the brunette shouted as he shoved Ran over into a graceful heap. However, being as clumsy as he is, the younger boy managed somehow to trip over his own two feet and landed right on top of the slightly winded red head. Ken looked down at Ran, and Ran looked up at Ken. The one on top started to stutter as the taller boy pushed himself up. They're faces were close together, and each could feel the others breath brushing gently past his skin. Ran opened his mouth to say something when he was interupted by a loud cry from outside the clearing.  
  
"I think thems boys went in here boss!" 


End file.
